As the Wheeler’s Turn

So we’ve all been sick for a few days now.  The boys are starting to mend a little faster than Matt and I and have some energy to get out. It’s a nice sunny cool day (high 60s/low 70s would be my guess- perfection).  So we let the boys out in the backyard in their PJs and let them run around for a bit.  Then it was inside for a bath before Asher’s nap.   Good times.  This is one of the benefits of living in a warmer climate.  Perfect weather in February.  Too bad it doesn’t keep us from getting the same winter colds and flu as everybody else. 

We decided to get Select Annual passes this year.  They are the cheapest passes so there are many blackout dates(including summer, all weekends, and holidays)  but we figure those are the busiest days at Disneyland so we wouldn’t want to be there anyway.  Since Matt is working contract jobs he frequently has random weekdays off so it works for us to go during the week with him.  Also you break even after going to Disneyland twice so we made sure to go twice the first week we had them.   Since then I’ve been one more time without Matt but with my cousin Karalee, her kids, and friends.  So we’ve already gotten the basic worth out of the passes and the rest is just gravy.   We are hoping the Wheeler’s will come down the end of February to go with us and my parents will be down in March to go with us so we knew we would get our money’s worth from the passes this year.  The boys are at the perfect age to enjoy the rides and characters and right now the crowds and lines are minimal.  Disneyland in January and February is perfect!  The longest line has been half an hour and that was for the brand new Toy Story ride in California adventure.  Mostly the lines have been 5-15 minutes long which is awesome.  We have learned a few things in our trips…

1. Don’t buy tickets at the park!  They are as much as 25 bucks cheaper online (at least for passes).  I’m not sure how Costco deals compare but I’m guessing it would be cheaper there than at the park too. 

2. Don’t go on the Snow White Scary adventures ride with young kids.  It is as advertised- scary! I have heard Pinnochio is also scary.  We made the mistake of going on the Snow White ride first and Kaden just about made us go home after that.   Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is potentially scary too but Kaden did fine with that one.  Peter Pan is wonderful and not scary at all.  Now after every ride Kaden says, “That wasn’t scary at all.”  And every time we get near the Snow White ride he pleads to not go on it (we haven’t gone on it again nor do we plan to any time soon). In California adventure the Bugs life interactive movie is scary too.

3. It is awesome how many rides little kids can go on!  My friend just posted a photo of her two year old riding the Matterhorn last week!  Next time we go we’ll have to see if Asher is tall enough.  Though it might be too scary for Kaden. LOL! 

4. Take advantage of the parent swap so you only have to wait in line once for the rides the kids can’t go on.  Fast passes also cut down on your time a ton too.  Plan out your movements around the park though so you aren’t wasting a lot of time going from one thing to the next.

5. Kaden’s favorite rides are the Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear, The Triton carousel (CA), Dumbo and the rocket ride.    The new Toy Story ride is a blast!

6. If you want to see characters go to California Adventure. There’s almost always two or three characters in their front circle plaza area.  We also had luck with no lines going to Toon town later in the evening to see Mickey Mouse.  

7. California has an awesome playground for kids to let off steam when they’ve waited in line one too many times. 

Currently Disneyland is doing a Give a Day Get a Day program.  Essentially if you volunteer for a day of service or complete a service activity with an approved charity you get a ticket for Disneyland for free. I know of one family who is making no sew fleece blankets to donate to an approved charity.  So great, right!?  Since we have the passes we get Disneyland dollars to spend on food or merchandise in the park instead of a day pass.   I think we need to find an approved charity.

Here are some of my fave photos from our trips(click on them to see bigger):

Disneyland was still all decorated for Christmas when we went the first week in January.  Gorgeous!

In the first photo Mickey is pointing himself out on Asher’s shirt.

Running and climbing at the playground in CA

Both boys were very excited to see McQueen and Mater.  All Disney associates will happily take your photo with your camera.

Asher is officially obsessed with Buzz.

Kaden loves the Carousels!

I broke down and got Asher a little Buzz.  He’s still obsessed with him so I think it was a good decision.

Hopefully everyone here will be over their colds by Thursday so we can go again this week.

For every rewards point you donate Huggies will donate 5 cents to the Red cross.  It takes some time to enter the codes in but every little bit helps.  Here are some rewards codes to get you started.  You can also answer some simple polls and watch some videos to earn more points.  It may seem silly to do all that for 2.50 or whatever but if everyone did it that 2.50 adds up fast.   I read somewhere that the 100 million we first pledged to Haiti amounted to like 1.50 from each taxpayer ( I probably have my numbers wrong and maybe it was every American… but still- you get the point- good things are brought to pass by small means).

5 points
  BCTDHBQWLPZKPGB (new Jan. 6)
  BCSTDHJZXTKPPGB (expires 3/31/10)
  BXZWTNJFSLHCPGB
  BDGTWXSQBJTXPGB
  BCSQDDNXQFBBPGB
  WHTZHNBDQFXKPGB
  TPJNGDZCQBHGPGB
  BCWPPSDLLFSFPGB
  PBWSMQGKCLBKPGB
  QWBZLJFJLPMDPGB
  BDHDNFBJGHCMPGB
  MLXRCCNRWKKWPGB
  ZXLRKBTBBMNNPGB
1 POINT
  BGGHSPLHNBLFPGB (new Jan. 5)
  BGCSZMBLDWWDPGB (new Jan. 3)
  BGCJJZSTLNNSPGB (new Jan. 3)
  BGDZBQLXKNNCPGB (new Jan. 3)

So go donate some time entering in codes and donate some money to the red cross! 

https://enjoytheriderewards.com/

Kaden is going to meet his Sunday School teacher tomorrow!  I can’t believe he’s that old already!  And he’s an old one going into primary. 

His Faves

Favorite color: Undecided.  We got him on tape and he starts off saying brown then lists all of the colors. 

Favorite Movie: Shorts (That was the movie he had just watched.  He is definitely a Robert Rodriguez fan)

Favorite Toy:  Duplo (which he makes into spaceships), Action figures (Robots, dinosaurs, knights in shining armor,  super mario brothers, kung fu panda, dragons)

Favorite food: carbs and cheese- cheesy rice, noodles and parmesan, tortilla and cheese are the favorites.  He’s always asking for dessert since Halloween and is frequently searching in the pantry for Chocolate chips.  He doesn’t get them very often despite his searching.

Favorite place to go: the park

Some funny Kadenisms:

This last Sunday he asked our Home Teacher if he could tell him a story.  The story went like this, “Once upon a time there was a boy named Kaden.  And we went to church.  Then I shot my parents and they fell down.”   We were all laughing hysterically at this point.  After we stopped laughing we verified that we were ok and that we got up again in his story. 

He says the opposite of what he means a lot.  He will say, “ That’s incorrect.” Obviously he means correct.  This morning he put a blanket on and said, “That will cool me down.” 

He learned the word Idiot and to say I hate you.  He gets in trouble any time he says either of those (which is getting less and le ss often).  To which he replies, “But I can say stinker.”  And yes we do let him say stinker and even stinkin’ stinker.

Asher is such a character!  He’s learning new things all the time and communicating more and more.

His Faves:

Favorite color: He seems to be drawn to red and blue

Favorite movie: Kung Fu Panda (he has recently started showing an opinion by saying yes when it’s something he wants to watch or a sad Oh no! if it’s not one he wants to watch.  Kaden still has most of the control over what they watch).

Favorite Toy: Duplo (he’s really good with these), airplanes, action figures (though take note all you who want to get him something for his birthday – keep the poseable action to a minimum, he freaks out when his figures are not in exactly the right position), following Kaden

Favorite food: Hot dog (he asked for one of these at three in the morning the other night), fruit snacks (or snacks as he calls them), cheese, crackers

Favorite places to go: outside (every time we open the door he begs to go outside)

Some funny Asherisms:

One morning Matt got up with Asher in the morning.  He was going to bring him into our room so we could lay down a little longer but as he entered the doorway Asher said, “No this way.”  And he pointed toward the kitchen.  Matt walked slowly down the hallway stopping every so often and each time Asher would tell him, “Go!  Go!”  and point where he should go.  He wanted fruit snacks and Ga (or Weetga as Kaden calls it- it’s Yo on the Go, a yogurt smoothie drink). 

He’s imitating what we say more and more.  He has recently said, shiny, happy, eat, door, gate, piece (referring to a duplo block), guys  (referring to his transformer action figures), and probably many more things that I have forgotten.

Gotta love my cute growing boys!

We still don’t know where we are going to put all of the toys and games they got.  LOL. 

Check out the cute handmade PJ Pants from aunt Anissa – Awesome!

I got some great presents this year!  Matt surprised me on Christmas Eve by having our couch professionally cleaned.  It looks like new and I love it!!!  He also got me Bree Despain’s first book, The Dark Divine.  I already read it and I loved it!  I recommend it. I got a great minkee blanket kit from aunt Tara that I am excited to put together and snuggle under.  My mom sent me some gorgeous original paintings- a water color window and acrylic tulips that I am excited to find a place to hang.  Definitely a good Christmas.

Matt scored too with some fun movies, books, and games.  We have plenty to keep us busy and entertained for the next year.  

I’m doing multiple postings so scroll down for more.  

Christmas Eve we went to the Jessop Family party ( My Great Aunt and Uncle’s family).  We ate yummy finger foods and chatted while the kids all had a great time chasing each other around the house.  My boys were in heaven with all of the other kids.  Asher got run over a few times and Kaden got disappointed when a cousin wouldn’t obey his every wish a couple times but overall they had a blast.  I really need to get my boys out with other kids more often again.  Especially with these wonderful cousins!  Kaden and Asher participated in the cousin gift exchange and love the dinosaurs that they received.  A funny story.  We were waiting for Dave to say the prayer when all of a sudden Kaden says,” Shhhh everyone and I’ll say it.”  Everyone got quiet and Kaden said the prayer instead of Dave.  He totally hijacked the prayer!  He was short and to the point, “Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. We ask for these blessings. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.” 

Some of the better photos of the night…

Matt made cookies with the boys earlier in the day so we put out cookies and milk for Santa before sending the boys to bed.  They were a bit grumpier than usual going bed because they were so worn out from the party but it didn’t take them long to fall asleep.  Santa definitely came while they were asleep.

So fun!  Kaden was totally into the Christmas season this year.  Every night when he went to bed he would tell me it was Christmas.  He had a hard time waiting for the real day. He loved seeing Santa twice and buying presents for his brother and parents.  The first time he saw Santa (at our ward party) he walked up to him and said, “I love you!”  It’s hard to hear but he said it…

Here’s the video…

Great Great Aunt Sheila invited Kaden and Asher to her Grandkids Christmas Party.  It was great.  We dropped the boys off and Matt and I went to dinner by ourselves.   We came back in time to chat some with family and see Santa come visit the kids and hand out little stockings full of candy.  Kaden told Santa that we made him chocolate cookies.  Santa was happy to hear it.

Asher wanted more than just one stocking. He’s got a crazy sweet tooth.

Kaden gave Santa several hugs. 

To remind us of the reason for the Season beyond gift giving we went to see baby Jesus too.  We went to a recreation of Bethlehem put on by a local church in the hills near our house.  It was amazing.  It really felt like we were going back in time.  Kaden was totally precious and in awe of baby Jesus.  Asher liked the goats in the pen outside the stable.  This will definitely be a tradition for us each year.  

I should have taken more photos.  There were Roman soldiers and vendors in a marketplace and a rabbi giving lessons on the steps of the Temple.  The Rabbi talked about how the wise men found Christ because they were reading the scriptures and knew what signs to follow. He gave a great reminder of the importance of reading the scriptures. 

We will make sure each year that we make a point of always going to see baby Jesus.  Hopefully we will always be able to find cool hands on experiences like this one to really bring the history to life.

Kaden is imagining and pretending all the time.  Lately he likes to tell me he is making movies.  Currently he is making a Little Einsteins movie. This is what he told me- “ Once upon a time there was a brave superhero named Superman. He was the only thing to stop Matanui from doing the stop this planet.  and then once upon a time there was a goosharp goopers.  Little Einsteins is the one thing you have to watch it.  It’s K- A- D- E – N. all those words. “ I think the last part referred more to my typing than his story.  He always wants to type his name on my laptop.

  We went for Asher’s 18 month check up and he told the doctor he is a boy robot superhero.  Matt got some Transformers videos for him and those are his current favorites.  He would watch them all day long if I let him.  Yesterday he told me to be Megatron and then he was telling me what to do.

Kaden’s generally shooting bad guys in his pretend play.  Every once in awhile some every day thing will come out in his play that cracks me up.  He’ll be pretending that he’s saving the world and then all of a sudden they have to brush their teeth or something( I haven’t actually overheard that one but I can’t remember at the moment what I did hear him say).  It’s funny.

His vocabulary is exploding.  He likes to add the phrase, “ or something” to the end of his answers to questions.  i.e. What’s your name? Kaden or something.  LOL he sounds like a teenager.  He also will preface answers with “The only thing is…”  He loves looking at Christmas lights and tells us they are gorgeous. Today he was playing and talking about how his toys were from another dimension.  That’s just him using words he’s heard on tv but it’s pretty cute to hear such big ideas come from such a small boy.  He gets all tangled up in his words and will get them confused sometimes, i.e. he will say something is incorrect when he means correct.  It’s pretty entertaining to hear.  come visit and have a convo with him- you won’t regret it.

Kaden made me look really good at the grocery store the other day.  He ran around the fruit and vegetable aisle begging to put bananas, peppers, avocados and other healthy foods in the cart (never mind that he won’t eat them at home he certainly acted like they were his favorite foods in the whole world!  And he will eat bananas and avocados occasionally.)  Later he showed his true colors as he found a candy bar that he then refused to let out of his grip (the fruits and veggies he put in the cart).  He wasn’t happy that I didn’t buy it for him but we still have plenty of Halloween candy to work on!

Kaden went into primary for the first time on Sunday.   He just went in for singing time.  So crazy that I will have a Sunbeam next year!  Hopefully Asher will continue to do well in Nursery without him. 

Asher’s favorite things to do are still to fly planes or animals and stomp and roar.  He also wants non stop piggy back rides.  And he loves to dump out all of the toys multiple times a day.  sometimes he’ll clean up after- most of the time not so much.  He’s got some new words-

up, let go (useful for use on a bigger brother), back(meaning he wants a piggy back ride), help me (usually meaning we need to put a toy back together for him), walk, hand, nose, eyes.  He said Josh a few times when he came to visit.  And he repeated the name Grandma once while on the phone with my Mom.  He used to say moooo or roar anytime you asked him what an animal said.  Now he also knows that a monkey says, oooahah.  It’s so cute! 

And some Asher potty humor- he’s had some noisy poops the last couple days and after he does them he laughs and imitates the sounds with his mouth.  Ahhhh…. the potty humor begins even earlier with the second one!

Asher loves to Jump!  He says jump and then steps off of whatever he is on.  He has no fear!  He says dank you, please, dot dadog (hot dog) and MINE!  He always wants piggy back rides.  He gives hugs and says sorry after he hurts Kaden.  He throws tantrums like  pro.  He throws a tantrum if the poseable arms on the toy he’s playing with are not in just the right position. Don’t get me wrong, He is a sweet cuddly boy!  He loves to bring us books and sit in our laps. 

Kaden is hilarious.  I made him a blanket tent today and told him it was a dinosaur cave.  He told me,”It’s called a tent, stinker mama!”  I couldn’t help laughing.  When he gets mad at me he calls me a “stinkin’ stinker.”  He hates washing his hands and tries to run out of the bathroom before I can make him wash them(he rarely makes it and then I drag him back).  He always says he doesn’t want a bath but then he never wants out again.   He gave up naps when we were in Seattle but he sometimes falls asleep if we are out driving at 3 o’clock.  He doesn’t like it when Dada goes to work. He can spell Kaden and type it on the computer.  He says he wants to spell his other two names but he doesn’t want any help to learn how to spell them so he just types in gibberish. LOL!

Here’s a cute photo of the boys Karalee took for us.

And a cute one of just Kaden.

Lately Kaden says he doesn’t like ANYTHING.  To illustrate the extreme to which he is taking this here is a convo we had with him last night.      

Kaden- “We’re going to the Halloween Store?” (we were driving past the building that temporarily housed the Halloween store)

Us- “ No, Halloween is over.”

Kaden, in a sad voice- “ Halloween is over?”

Us- “ Yes, now it’s time for Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Are you excited for Christmas?”

Kaden- “No, I don’t like Christmas.  Christmas is YUCK!”

Us- howling with laughter since all he does is ask for presents for Christmas all day long. 

Anytime Kaden doesn’t want to do something or watch something he says it scares him.  So when he is picking out a show to watch every show scares him except the one he wants to watch.  It’s kinda funny when he’s scared of Elmo.  Cleaning up scares him too- or he’s too tired to do that.  I can relate to that.

He also is either fighting to make his little brother play with him and do what he wants him to do or Kaden’s fighting to make Asher stay away from all of the toys that Kaden wants to play with by himself.  Haha!  It looks like they were sleeping in the above photo.  I wish.  They were being cute though and Kaden was reading the Super Mario handbook to Asher.